United Nations Development Programme

International Poverty Centre



IPC - Publications

The International Poverty Centre (IPC) publishes regularly issues of Poverty in Focus magazine, One Pagers, Policy Research Briefs, Working Papers and Country Studies to encourage policy debate and dissemination of knowledge on key poverty topics. Please click here to receive IPC publications by e-mail.

Note that IPC has also started publishing special series of Evaluation Notes, Technical Papers, Training Modules, and Conference Papers.

In Focus

Poverty In Focus is the IPC's magazine. Its purpose is to present succinctly the results of recent research on poverty and inequality in a popular format.

 

One Pager

The One Pager is an online publication designed to spark discussion and debate on key poverty issues. It is written in non-technical language for a wide audience.

What Do We Mean by “Feminization of Poverty”?
Marcelo Medeiros and Joana Costa. One Pager # 58. July 2008.

Tariff Hikes with Low Investment: The Story of the Urban Water Sector in Zambia
Hulya Dagdeviren and Degol Hailu. One Pager # 57. June 2008.

Lessons from the South African Electricity Crisis
Kate Bayliss. One Pager # 56. June 2008.

Equitable Access to Basic Services: Who will Guarantee it?
Degol Hailu. One Pager # 55. June 2008.

A Consistent Measure of Real Poverty: A Reply to Ravallion
Thomas Pogge. One Pager # 54. May 2008.

Which Poverty Line? A Response to Reddy
Martin Ravallion. One Pager # 53. May 2008.

Are Estimates of Poverty in Latin America Reliable?
Sanjay G. Reddy. One Pager # 52. May 2008.

Inflation-Targeting in Sub-Saharan Africa: Why Now? Why at All?
Terry McKinley. One Pager # 51. April 2008.

The Urgent Need for Financial Reform to Mobilise Savings in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sedat Aybar and Costas Lapavitsas. One Pager # 50. March 2008.

Latin America’s Progress on Gender Equality: Poor Women Workers Are Still Left Behind
Eduardo Zepeda. One Pager # 49. February 2008.

Is Financial Liberalization a Flop? An Africa Assessment
John Serieux and Terry McKinley. One Pager # 48. February 2008.

Conditional Cash Transfers: Why Targeting and Conditionalities Could Fail
Guy Standing. One Pager # 47. December 2007.

Wage Cutting in Kenya Will Expand Poverty, Not Decent Jobs
Robert Pollin, Mwangi we Githinji and James Heintz. One Pager # 46. December 2007.

Pro-Poor Growth: Though a Contested Marriage, Still a Premature Divorce
Terry McKinley. One Pager # 45. November 2007.

‘Growing Pains’: Key Challenges for New Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes in Latin America
Fabio Veras Soares and Tatiana Britto. One Pager # 44. November 2007.

The Fiscal Impact of Aid Flows: Evidence from Ethiopia
Pedro M. G. Martins. One Pager # 43. September 2007.

Why Have Tax Reforms Hampered MDG Financing?
Terry McKinley. One Pager # 42. September 2007.

Job Creation versus Cash Transfers in Kenya
Eduardo Zepeda. One Pager # 41. August 2007.

Should Khat Be Banned? The Development Impact
Degol Hailu. One Pager # 40. July 2007.

Raising Domestic Revenue for the MDGs: Why Wait until 2015?
Terry McKinley. One Pager # 39. July 2007.

Correcting Global Imbalances with Exchange Rate Realignment? No thanks!
Francis Cripps, Alex Izurieta and Terry McKinley. One Pager # 38. June 2007.

Using ODA to Accumulate Foreign Reserves in Sub-Saharan Africa
Costas Lapavitsas. One Pager # 37. June 2007.

Can all Cash Transfers Reduce Inequality?
Sergei Suarez Dillon Soares and Eduardo Zepeda. One Pager # 36. May 2007.
Spanish Portuguese French

The IMF and Constraints on Spending Aid
David Goldsbrough. One Pager # 35. May 2007.

Why Is Africa Constrained from Spending ODA?
Terry McKinley. One Pager # 34. May 2007.
Spanish Portuguese French

MDG Targets: Misunderstood or Misconceived?
Hamid Tabatabai. One Pager # 33. April 2007.
Spanish Portuguese French

Debating the Provision of Basic Utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa: a Response to Nellis
Kate Bayliss and Ben Fire. One Pager # 32. April 2007.

Privatising Basic Utilities in Africa: a Rejoinder
John Nellis. One Pager # 31. April 2007.

The Gross Inequities of Global Imbalances
Terry McKinley and Alex Izurieta. One Pager # 30. February 2007.
Spanish Portuguese

Why Not ‘Front-load’ ODA for HIV/Aids?
John Serieux and Terry McKinley. One Pager # 29. February 2007.

MDGs: Misunderstood Targets?
Jan Vandemoortele. One Pager # 28. January 2007.
Spanish Portuguese

Has there been any Social Mobility for Non-Whites in Brazil?
Rafael Guerreiro Osório. One Pager # 27. January 2007.

What is poverty? Good Question
Terry McKinley. One Pager # 26. December 2006.
Spanish Portuguese

Old-Age Poverty and Social Pensions in Kenya
Hyun H. Son and Nanak Kakwani. One Pager # 25. November 2006.

Are Improving Terms of Trade Helping Reduce Poverty in Africa?
Andrew Mold. One Pager # 24. November 2006.

Inequality and the Education MDG for Latin America
Eduardo Zepeda. One Pager # 23. October 2006.

What is Poverty?
Nanak Kakwani. One Pager # 22. September 2006.

Do CCTs Reduce Poverty?
Eduardo Zepeda. One Pager # 21. September 2006.
Spanish Portuguese

The Gender Pay Gap over Women's Working Lifetime
Hyun H. Son and Nanak Kakwani. One Pager # 20. June 2006.
Spanish Portuguese

Women's earning power and wellbeing
Nanak Kakwani and Hyun H. Son. One Pager # 19. April 2006.

Headcount Poverty Comparisons
S. Subramanian. One Pager # 18. November 2005.

Three models of social protection
Alejandro Grinspun. One Pager # 17. October 2005.

India needs an Employment Guarantee Scheme
Santosh Mehrotra. One Pager # 16. August 2005.

Leaky Bucket
Nanak Kakwani and Hyun H. Son. One Pager # 15. June 2005.

Vietnam: Jobs, Growth & Poverty
Hyun H. Son. One Pager # 14. May 2005.

Chinese Boxes: whatever happened to poverty reduction?
Alejandro Grinspun. One Pager # 13. April 2005.

Ending world poverty: is the debate settled?
Jan Vandemoortele. One Pager # 12. March 2005.

The challenge of pro-poor growth in Uganda
Barbara Barungi and Eduardo Zepeda. One Pager # 11. February 2005.

Birth control and poverty in South America
Marcelo Medeiros. One Pager # 10. January 2005.

Defining pro-poor growth
Siddiq Osmani. One Pager # 9. January 2005.

Measuring poverty: what's in the line?
Alejandro Grinspun. One Pager # 8. December 2004.

Slipping into poverty: a neglected issue in anti-poverty strategies
M. H. Suryanarayana. One Pager # 7. December 2004.

Pro-poor growth: finding the Holy Grail
Alejandro Grinspun. One Pager # 6. December 2004.

Generic or brand drugs for HIV-AIDS? Southern Africa examples
Francisco Rossi. One Pager # 5. November 2004.

Defining pro-poor growth: a response to Kakwani
Martin Ravallion. One Pager # 4. November 2004.

Conditional Cash Transfer: a vaccine against poverty and inequality?
Fabio Veras Soares. One Pager # 3. October 2004.

Methods in measuring poverty matter: an Indian story.
Nanak Kakwani. One Pager # 2. September 2004.

Pro-poor growth: what is it?
Eduardo Zepeda. One Pager # 1. January 2004.

back to top

Policy Research Brief

The Policy Research Brief is a new four-page easily readable IPC publication that presents major policy lessons drawn from our research in a particular area.

The Vast Majority Income (VMI): A New Measure of Global Inequality
Anwar Shaikh and Amr Ragab. Policy Research Brief # 7. May 2008.

Pro-Growth Alternatives for Monetary and Financial Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa
Robert Pollin, Gerald Epstein and James Heintz. Policy Research Brief # 6. January 2008.

Policymakers Beware: The Use and Misuse of Regressions in Explaining Economic Growth
Francisco Rodríguez. Policy Research Brief # 5. November 2007.

The Macroeconomic Implications of MDG-Based Strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa
John Weeks and Terry McKinley. Policy Research Brief # 4. October 2007.

Privatising Basic Utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa: The MDG Impact
Kate Bayliss and Terry McKinley. Policy Research Brief # 3. January 2007.

The Unresolved Land Reform Debate: Beyond State-Led or Market-Led Models
Saturnino M. Borras and Terry McKinley. Policy Research Brief # 2. November 2006.

The Macroeconomic Debate on Scaling up HIV/AIDS Financing
Terry McKinley and Degol Hailu. Policy Research Brief # 1. September 2006.

back to top

Working Papers

Working Papers are the IPC's main research publication. They disseminate findings from in-depth research.

Targeted Cash Transfer Programmes in Brazil: BPC and the Bolsa Familia
Marcelo Medeiros, Tatiana Britto and Fabio Veras Soares. Working Paper # 46. June 2008.

Financial Liberalization and Domestic Resource Mobilization in Africa: an Assessment
John Serieux . Working Paper # 45. April 2008.

Do Changes in the Labour Market Take Families out of Poverty? Determinants of Exiting Poverty in Brazilian Metropolitan Regions
Ana Flávia Machado and Rafael Perez Ribas. Working Paper # 44. February 2008.

Is all Socioeconomic Inequality among Racial Groups in Brazil Caused by Racial Discrimination?
Rafael Guerreiro Osório. Working Paper # 43. February 2008.

Growth, Poverty and Employment in Brazil, Chile and Mexico
Eduardo Zepeda, Diana Alarcón, Fabio Veras Soares and Rafael Guerreiro Osório. Working Paper # 42. December 2007.

The Impact of Foreign Aid on Government Spending, Revenue and Domestic Borrowing in Ethiopia
Pedro M. G. Martins. Working Paper # 41. November 2007.

Addressing the Employment-Poverty Nexus in Kenya: Comparing Cash-Transfer and Job-Creation Programmes
Eduardo Zepeda. Working Paper # 40. October 2007.

The Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Nutrition: The South African Child Support Grant
Jorge M. Agüero, Michael R. Carter and Ingrid Woolard. Working Paper # 39. September 2007.

Confronting Capacity Constraints on Conditional Cash Transfers in Latin America: the cases of El Salvador and Paraguay
Fabio Veras Soares and Tatiana Britto. Working Paper # 38. August 2007.
Spanish

The Impact of Relative Prices on Welfare and Inequality in Brazil, 1995-2005
Sergei Suarez Dillon Soares and Rafael Guerreiro Osório. Working Paper # 37. May 2007.

Distinguishing Chronic Poverty from Transient Poverty in Brazil: Developing a Model for Pseudo-Panel Data
Rafael Perez Ribas and Ana Flávia Machado . Working Paper # 36. April 2007.

Conditional Cash Transfers in Brazil, Chile and Mexico: Impacts upon Inequality
Sergei Suarez Dillon Soares, Rafael Guerreiro Osório, Fabio Veras Soares, Marcelo Medeiros and Eduardo Zepeda. Working Paper # 35. April 2007.

Gender Inequalities in Allocating Time to Paid and Unpaid Work: Evidence from Bolivia
Marcelo Medeiros, Rafael Guerreiro Osório and Joana Costa. Working Paper # 34. April 2007.

Measuring the Impact of Price Changes on Poverty
Hyun H. Son and Nanak Kakwani. Working Paper # 33. November 2006.

The Post-Apartheid Evolution of Earnings Inequality in South Africa, 1995-2004
Phillippe G. Leite, Terry McKinley and Rafael Guerreiro Osório. Working Paper # 32. October 2006.

Global Estimates of Pro-Poor Growth
Hyun H. Son and Nanak Kakwani. Working Paper # 31. October 2006.

Operational Poverty Targeting In Peru – Proxy Means Testing With Non-Income Indicators
Julia Johannsen. Working Paper # 30. October 2006.

New Global Poverty Counts
Nanak Kakwani and Hyun H. Son. Working Paper # 29. September 2006.

A note on measuring unemployment
Nanak Kakwani and Hyun H. Son. Working Paper # 28. September 2006.

Inter-country Comparisons of Poverty Based on a Capability Approach: An Empirical Exercise
Sanjay G. Reddy, Sujata Visaria and Muhammad Asali. Working Paper # 27. August 2006.

Linkages between Pro-Poor Growth, Social Programmes and Labour Market: The Recent Brazilian Experience
Nanak Kakwani, Marcelo Neri and Hyun H. Son. Working Paper # 26. August 2006.

Chinese Poverty: Assessing the Impact of Alternative Assumptions
Sanjay G. Reddy and Camelia Minoiu. Working Paper # 25. July 2006.

Poverty, Old-Age and Social Pensions in Kenya
Nanak Kakwani, Hyun H. Son and Richard Hinz. Working Paper # 24. July 2006.

Addressing Global Imbalances: A Development-Oriented Policy Agenda
Alex Izurieta and Terry McKinley. Working Paper # 23. July 2006.

Can Privatisation and Commercialisation of Public Services Help Achieve The MDGs? An Assessment
Kate Bayliss and Tim Kessler. Working Paper # 22. July 2006.

Cash Transfer Programmes in Brazil: Impacts on Inequality and Poverty
Fabio Veras Soares, Sergei Suarez Dillon Soares, Marcelo Medeiros and Rafael Guerreiro Osório. Working Paper # 21. June 2006.

Poverty among women in Latin America: Feminization or over-representation?
Marcelo Medeiros and Joana Costa. Working Paper # 20. May 2006.

How costly is it to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty between 1990 and 2015?
Nanak Kakwani and Hyun H. Son. Working Paper # 19. May 2006.

Poverty, inequality and redistribution: A methodology to define the rich
Marcelo Medeiros. Working Paper # 18. May 2006.

Gearing macroeconomic polices to manage large inflows of ODA: The implications for HIV/AIDS programmes
Anis Chowdhury and Terry McKinley. Working Paper # 17. May 2006.

Cash benefits to disabled persons in Brazil: An analysis of the BPC – Continuous Cash Benefit Programme
Marcelo Medeiros, Debora Diniz and Flávia Squinca. Working Paper # 16. May 2006.

Assessing the pro-poorness of government fiscal policy in Thailand
Hyun H. Son. Working Paper # 15. April 2006.

Covariates of efficiency in education production among developing pacific-basin and Latin American countries
Sergei Suarez Dillon Soares and Emanuela di Gropello . Working Paper # 14. April 2006.

A Capability centred approach to environmental sustainability: Is productive employment the missing link between micro-and macro polices?
Enrique Delamonica and Santosh Mehrotra. Working Paper # 13. April 2006.

The monopoly of global capital flows: Who needs structural adjustment now?
Terry McKinley. Working Paper # 12. March 2006.

Measuring the impact of prices on inequality: with applications to Thailand and Korea
Hyun H. Son and Nanak Kakwani. Working Paper # 11. January 2006.

Why is ‘The Dutch disease’ always a disease? the macroeconomic consequences of scaling up ODA
Terry McKinley. Working Paper # 10. November 2005.

Conditional cash transfers in African countries
Nanak Kakwani, Fabio Veras Soares and Hyun H. Son. Working Paper # 9. November 2005.

Ageing and poverty in africa and the role of social pensions
Nanak Kakwani and Kalanidhi Subbarao. Working Paper # 8. August 2005.

The impact of trade liberalisation on the informal sector in Brazil
Fabio Veras Soares. Working Paper # 7. June 2005.

On assessing pro-poorness of government programmes:international comparisons
Nanak Kakwani and Hyun H. Son. Working Paper # 6. May 2005.

Reorienting development: towards an engendered employment strategy
Selim Jahan. Working Paper # 5. February 2005.

Relative prices and investment: an essay on resource allocation
Keith Griffin. Working Paper # 4. January 2005.

The MDGs and pro-poor polices: related but not synonymous
Jan Vandemoortele. Working Paper # 3. November 2004.

Economic growth and poverty reduction: initial conditions matter
Hyun H. Son and Nanak Kakwani. Working Paper # 2. August 2004.

Pro-poor growth: concepts and measurement with country case studies
Nanak Kakwani, Shahid Khandker and Hyun H. Son. Working Paper # 1. August 2004.

back to top

Country Study

Country Studies are a new IPC category inaugurated in 2006, focused mostly on Economic Policies, MDGs and Poverty and based on comprehensive UNDP-supported national reports. Click here to see full background reports.

Assessing Honduras’ CCT Programme PRAF, Programa de Asignación Familiar: Expected and Unexpected Realities
Charity Moore. Country Study # 15. April 2008.

The Reduction of Fiscal Space in Zambia—Dutch Disease and Tight-Money Conditionalities
John Weeks. Country Study # 14. January 2008.

Poverty, Growth and Income Distribution in Lebanon
Heba El Laithy, Khalid Abu-Ismail and Kamal Hamdan. Country Study # 13. January 2008.

A Proposed Strategy for Growth, Employment and Poverty Reduction in Uzbekistan
Terry McKinley and John Weeks. Country Study # 12. October 2007.

Moldova’s Middle-Income ‘Mistaken Identity’: The Severe Income and Human Development Costs
John Weeks. Country Study # 11. October 2007.

Growth, Poverty and Inequality in Mozambique
Pekka Virtanen and Dag Ehrenpreis. Country Study # 10. September 2007.

The Challenges of El Salvador’s Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Red Solidaria
Tatiana Britto. Country Study # 9. September 2007.
Spanish

Expanding the Social Security Net in South Africa: Opportunities, Challenges and Constraints
Kalie Pauw and Liberty Mncube. Country Study # 8. July 2007.

The Impact of Growth and Redistribution on Poverty and Inequality in South Africa
Kalie Pauw and Liberty Mncube. Country Study # 7. June 2007.

Expanding Decent Employment in Kenya: The Role of Monetary Policy, Inflation Control, and the Exchange Rate
Robert Pollin and James Heintz. Country Study # 6. March 2007.
For full Report: Kenya

Does Debt Relief Increase Fiscal Space in Zambia? The MDG Implications
John Weeks and Terry McKinley. Country Study # 5. September 2006.
For full Report: Zambia

Strengthening the Employment Impact of an MDG-Based Development Strategy for Yemen
Terry McKinley and Farhad Mehran. Country Study # 4. September 2006.
For full Report: Yemen

Gearing Public Finance to Growth, Employment and Poverty Reduction in Moldova
Terry McKinley. Country Study # 3. July 2006.
For full Report: Moldova

Monetary Policy and Financial Sector Reform for Employment Creation and Poverty Reduction in Ghana
Gerald Epstein and James Heintz. Country Study # 2. June 2006.
For related Report: Ghana

An Employment-targeted Economic Programme for South Africa
Robert Pollin, Gerald Epstein, James Heintz and Léonce Ndikumana. Country Study # 1. June 2006.
For full Report: South Africa

back to top

Evaluation Notes

Achievements and Shortfalls of Conditional Cash Transfers: Impact Evaluation of Paraguay’s Tekoporã Programme
Fabio Veras Soares, Rafael Perez Ribas and Guilherme Issamu Hirata. Evaluation Note # 3. March 2008.
Spanish

Debating Targeting Methods for Cash Transfers: A Multidimensional Index vs. an Income Proxy for Paraguay’s Tekoporã Programme
Rafael Perez Ribas, Guilherme Issamu Hirata and Fabio Veras Soares. Evaluation Note # 2. January 2008.
Spanish

Evaluating the Impact of Brazil’s Bolsa Família: Cash Transfer Programmes in Comparative Perspective
Fabio Veras Soares, Rafael Perez Ribas and Rafael Guerreiro Osório. Evaluation Note # 1. December 2007.
Portuguese

back to top

Technical Papers

The Effectiveness of Monetary Policy Reconsidered
John Weeks. Technical Paper # 3. June 2008.

Alternatives for Projecting MDG Indicators
Rafael Guerreiro Osório. Technical Paper # 2. April 2008.

Developing a Global Model for Trade, Finance and Income Distribution
Francis Cripps, Alex Izurieta and Terry McKinley. Technical Paper # 1. February 2007.

back to top

Training Modules

Financial Policy
Gerald Epstein and Ilene Grabel. Training Module # 3. July 2007.

Monetary Policy
Alfredo Saad Filho. Training Module # 2. July 2007.

Fiscal Policy
John Weeks and Shruti Patel. Training Module # 1. July 2007.

back to top

Conference Papers

Scaling-up HIV/AIDS Financing and the Role of Macroeconomic Policies in Kenya
Degol Hailu. Conference Paper # 4. June 2007.

The Fiscal Implications of Scaling up ODA to Deal with the HIV/AIDS Pandemic
Bernard Walters. Conference Paper # 3. May 2007.

Monetary Policies for an MDG-Related Scaling up of ODA to Combat HIV/AIDS:Avoiding Dutch Disease Versus Supporting Fiscal Expansion
Matías Vernengo. Conference Paper # 2. March 2007.

Managing the Exchange Rate Consequences of an MDG-Related Scale-up in HIV/AIDS Financing
John Serieux . Conference Paper # 1. March 2007.

back to top

To receive our publications by email, click here